The Importance of Last Names
by McPenname
Summary: Gibbs usually refers to Tim as McGee. He rarely uses the agent's first name. Yet everyone else is called by their first name Abby, Kate, Ziva, Ducky, and Tony. Why is that? One shot


Gibbs usually refers to Tim as McGee. He rarely uses the agent's first name. Yet everyone else is called by their first name Abby, Kate, Ziva, Ducky, and Tony. Why is that? One shot

Not beta'd.

Hope you enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any characters from that show/world.

* * *

"Why do you do that?" Tim finally got up the nerve to ask his boss the question that he has wanted to for years.

"Do what?"

"Call me McGee," Tim explained.

"It's your name," Tony retorted, "Or perhaps you prefer Elf Lord?"

Tim just glared at Tony before looking at a silent Gibbs. "Right," he said, dropping the subject and returning to his desk.

"Oh, come on, McGee, what's the problem?"

"No problem, Tony."

"Right," Tony drawled sarcastically. "You know, if you don't share, we can't help."

Tim snorted, "I don't think you'll help anyway," he replied. "I'm gonna go get some coffee," he added as he stood up and walked away from his desk.

"Do you know what that was about, Gibbs?" Ziva asked curiously. When no answer was forthcoming, she looked around, noticing that he was no longer in the area.

"It's about Probie being overly sensitive," Tony remarked.

Ziva shrugged, "He might have a point. Gibbs refers to many of us by our first names. Even you, yet McGee, Tim, _always_ seems to be McGee. And look there, I did it as well. I know you never refer to him by his name, first or last," she replied, referring to his penchant of making fun of his name. "Abby sometimes calls him Timmy, like he is a kid. However, only Ducky consistently makes use of his name, though he does use the formal address of Timothy. It is bound to make one feel…" she stopped as she tried to find the right word in English to convey what she meant.

"Yeah," Tony commented, finally understanding what Tim was getting at. "You know if I start using his real name, he's gonna know something is up or think something is wrong, don't you?"

Ziva shrugged, "So we will laze into it."

Tony frowned as he tried to decipher that, Shaking his head, he corrected, "Ease, ease into it."

Ziva nodded, but otherwise ignored his correction. "So that is the plan?"

Tony shrugged, "I'm not really sure if he had a problem with all of us or just the bossman," he explains. "It probably wouldn't hurt if you sometime refer to him as Tim, after all, you are on good terms with him."

"Yes, I can do that," Ziva agreed, "And you?"

Tony shrugged, "Too much, too soon if I do it as well. I'll just wait to see if anything else happens between him and Gibbs before I do something."

"So you will wait and play it by hand then?"

"Ear, Ziva, play it by ear, but yes, that's what I'll do."

* * *

Gibbs stood in the doorway of the break-room watching his agent. The minute he approached the area, everyone else seemed to suddenly remember appointments they need to be at or tasks that needed to be done. He smirked for a moment, sometimes amazed at the reaction people had to him.

"You call that coffee?" he finally asked.

Tim jumped at the sound of his boss's voice, "Not the best, I admit, but it's warm and gav-"

"Gave you an excuse to leave?" he finished.

Tim just shrugged as he took a sip from his cup. "Okay, so it's warm-ish," he corrected he put the cup back down, not in a hurry to return to the bullpen.

Gibbs watched him for a moment before slowly approaching. When he got within arms length, he reached out, took McGee's coffee and poured it down the sink.

"Hey! It wasn't that bad," he argued.

"Yes, it was," Gibbs replied, turning back to the door. "Now, come on," he said as he started to leave.

Tim looked at his now empty cup and sighed before following along behind his boss. He still didn't want to return to the bullpen, but he knew he couldn't put it off much longer, especially not since Gibbs followed him _and_ dumped his coffee.

Surprisingly instead of heading to the bullpen, he went to the back elevator instead. Great, Tim realized in dismay, a conference with the boss. Silently he followed the older man into the metal office and waited for the elevator to stop. Something that only happened when they reached the ground floor and the doors reopened.

"Boss?"

"Come on, I know a place that provides real coffee," he said with a smirk.

Automatically Tim followed, at least he would get a good, fresh cup of coffee out of it, he realized.

After placing their order and receiving their coffees, Tim stared at Gibbs. He seriously doubted the older man brought him here just for the coffee, even though it was good.

After a few moments, Gibbs exited the café, Tim right behind him. It wasn't long before Tim was seated on a park bench next to his boss, both silent.

"You asked me a question earlier," Gibbs began, "If it bothers you, I can call you by your first name," he offered.

Tim shrugged and took another sip of his coffee. "It's not the name itself that bothers me, more the reason why," he admitted. "And despite what DiNozzo thinks, I do prefer that to Elf Lord."

Gibbs nodded in understanding. "In case it has skipped your attention, I'm usually referred to by my surname."

Tim frowned, "Is this like the whole Probie thing again? Because I don't think the two are the same in any way."

"You're right," Gibbs admitted, "What I'm trying to say is, first, it's not necessarily a bad thing to be called by your last name. It doesn't necessarily have a negative connotation."

Tim nodded, not knowing what to say. But Gibbs brought him out here to discuss it, he wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by. Finally, he settled on, "For you, I believe it is used as a sign of respect. That cannot be said of me. I mean, come on, my partner tries to superglue me to my phone or keyboard at least once a week. If he doesn't even respect me, why would anyone else?

"Then there is the fact that the rest of the team isn't referred to by their last name. Rarely do you call Ziva, David. You do occasionally refer to Tony as DiNozzo, but not always, not consistently. Abby never gets referred to by her surname, nor does Ducky. It didn't bother me at first, I mean, I understood. I was the new guy, I just figured it would take time. But years passed, and then Ziva became a part of the the team, and well..."

Gibbs nodded as he listened to his agent speak. Tim's observations were true. The two fell silent again as they drank their coffee. Just as Tim was wondering if he should make excuses and head back to the office, Gibbs spoke again. "As I said earlier, I'm often called by my last name, and not because I prefer it to my last, or because of my military background." he clarified. "And, you remind me of, well, me." He added softly.

Tim snorted in disbelief.

"No, you do," Gibbs insisted. "You tend to remain to yourself, except for family and a few close friends. You know exactly who you are and what you want out of life. You have solitary hobbies and pursuits, don't need to be in the middle of things, or the center of attention, in fact, you often prefer to be in the background.

"At the core of you is the need, the desire, to serve and protect."

Tim thought of his words, they did seem to describe him. "I always thought you and Tony were more alike."

This time it was Gibbs that snorted, "Tony I understand. He's really not that complex. Tony likes the thrills, likes to figure things out, put the pieces together. He likes a job where he gets paid to pry into other people's business," he stated knowingly, causing McGee to chuckle at that truth.

"You, however," Gibbs paused and shook his head. "Even though we are similar in many ways, I don't think I'll every truly understand you. Not the way you think, at least. First there's your specialty, the computer. I don't understand those at all, but you, I believe that if given enough time, you could make one do the hula. Your mind," again, he shook his head, "There is so much in there and going on in there, that there is no possible way I could understand your thought process, how you connect things together, and you do," he stressed.

"You're quiet, strong, steadfast, resilient, and courageous. That's what I saw, what I recognized that day in Norfolk. You're a great agent. Eager to learn, ready to do whatever it takes to be the best you can be. You, I see as the heart and backbone of this team. And some day I swear I will see you as the heart and backbone of NCIS," Gibbs finished before standing up and beginning to walk back towards work.

Tim remained seated, in awe and shock at what his boss had to say. He couldn't believe that that was how the older man saw him. He also couldn't believe that the older man shared so much. He didn't think he ever heard him say that much in all the years they've worked together, let alone in one sitting.

"You coming, McG-Tim?"

Tim stood and rushed to follow, "McGee's fine," he said with a smile. "Just fine."

* * *

I love McGee and sometimes wish he had a better relationship with Gibbs. (Love fics where they discover they are related-father/son; or where Tim marries Gibbs' daughter that mysteriously survived)


End file.
